Phytochemical and biological research of Salvia medicinal resources

Sage (Salvia) species have been used in traditional medicine for the relief of pain, protecting the body against oxidative stress, free radical damages, angiogenesis, inflammation, bacterial and virus infection, etc. Various terpenoids and phenolic compounds of Salvia plants are found to be useful in industry and health care. Many studies suggest that sage species can be considered for drug development because of their reported pharmacology and therapeutic activities in many countries of Asia and Middle East. Transcriptome data provide useful information on transcript profiles, gene discovery, transcriptional regulation, tissue biogenesis, and marker-assisted selections. Omics platform will greatly contribute to the improvement of Salvia medicinal plants, for the purpose of ensuring adequate drug resources. This chapter covers the latest advances in phytochemical, pharmacological, phylogenetic, and omics studies of Salvia plants. More Salvia plants, besides the well-known S. miltiorrhiza, S. sclarea, and S. officinalis, have application potential in pharmaceutical industry and clinical therapy.